


How to post a work Anonymously

by ao3commentoftheday



Series: How to AO3 [3]
Category: No Fandom
Genre: Fanwork Research & Reference Guides, Gen, anonymous, posting anonymously, posting help
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:54:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25397248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ao3commentoftheday/pseuds/ao3commentoftheday
Summary: Sometimes you have a work that you don't want associated with your account, but you still want to retain control of it. Posting anonymously keeps the work on your account, but it removes all identifying information from it. Your user name doesn't appear on the fic itself or in the comments. If you want to know how to post like this, here are some instructions.
Series: How to AO3 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1854832
Comments: 3
Kudos: 30





	How to post a work Anonymously

To post a fic anonymously, you create your fic the same way you would any other time, and you just add it to one of the collections on AO3 called anonymous. Do this in the “Post to Collections/Challenges” section of the Work Post form. It’s right above where you would gift a fic to someone. Type in anonymous and several collections will appear:

You can also edit an existing fic and add it to these collections. You do not need the fic to be anonymous right from the start. However, adding the fic to the anonymous collection at the same time that you originally post it will mean that your subscribers will _not_ be alerted to the fact that you posted the work.

It is also important to note that these Anonymous collections were not created by and are not managed by AO3. While they have all existed for a long time, and I have not personally heard of anyone being revealed as the author of a work, you should be aware that you are trusting another user not to reveal your name as the author. If you wish, you can create your own anonymous collection to house your own fics.

The works you post anonymously will still show up on your stats page, but they won't be visible to other users when they visit your profile. You can still see it, but no one else can. 

When you reply to comments, your user icon is shown as a dark version of the default AO3 icon and your name is listed as Anonymous Creator

When looking at your own fic while you're logged in, the top of the story will show the author name as Anonymous with your user name in brackets after it. If you log out, however, the only name shown will be Anonymous.

If you ever want to put your name back on the fic again in the future, edit the fic and go back down to that section where you can post to a Collection or Challenge. You’ll see the anonymous collection listed there with a little x to the right of the name.

Click the x to remove your fic from the collection. Your name will reappear on the fic and your username and icon will be visible next to your comment replies. 


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